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Romantic Adventure

Friday 21 March 2014

California Free Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


CA marriage records better known as California marriage records are one of the many documents of the state that has been opened to the public. This is in line with the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. With this, residents of the state have the freedom to access their marriage licenses anytime they have a need for it.

Marriage records in California are requested by the residents to use in a number of ways. It is one of the documents used as reference when updating the family history tree. Genealogy research would usually refer to this type of document in order to completely update the family tree. Marriage certificates are also important documents that the government would require when processing any transactions in a government office. Insurance related matters and the declaration of assets and properties of a couple are the most common transaction that requires a copy of a marriage certificate in order to proceed. Filing divorce or separation would also require a copy of a marriage certificate to have the separation processed.

Back in the old days, there was only little information that can be obtained in a California marriage certificate. One would only know the basics of the marriage like the names of the bride and the groom and the date and place where it took place as well as the names of the witnesses and the officiant. Now, it is a little more complex since it now includes the maiden name of the bride as well as other personal details of the bride and the groom such as their residence address, race, age and occupation during the marriage. Another thing that was added is the name of the couple's parents and their birth place.

The state of California has started to document marriages that took place since the 1850's, but the records that are available for retrieval are only those from July 1905. However, certificates filed from 1987 to 1995 are not indexed by the state so this has to be requested at the county where the couple had their marriage. One has to pay $14 for the processing fee to proceed with the request at the Vital Records Section in the Department of Health. If the request is made at the county, fees may differ. To make a smooth retrieval process, it is recommended to indicate on the request form all possible information that you know about the record being requested. The state office also accepts mail request but it is not the fastest method to get such document.

The Internet now allows the retrieval of a marriage certificate online. This can greatly saves one time and energy since the search can be done even without leaving home and the results are obtained in just seconds instead of days. This is the reason why most of the residents of California prefer to conduct the search through the Internet.

Many websites now offer to obtain the document for you. Some would allow you to get marriage records free of any charges, while others can only do the search after you pay for the processing fee online. There are websites lets their users test their system before they are urged to pay. It is up to the user if they want to pay for the service or not.




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